Story & photos by Mike Besa
I first got wind of Splendido Taal Golf Club back in the mid-90s when I was working with a tech company providing hospitality information systems to the industry. In our portfolio was a club management system that I was tasked to market to the local golf industry.
One of the clubs that came up on my radar as a potential client was Splendido. I heard that they’d broken ground at the time and since I was often at the now closed Evercrest Banyan Tree Resort looking in on our installation there, I decided to try and find the site on which Splendido was to rise.
I’ve been driving along the Tagaytay ridge since I learned to drive back in college. We would come up for weekends at a friend’s house. We ‘d drive up on Saturday nights to have a few beers and sing songs under the stars. It was even more beautiful back then; there were few structures to detract from the magnificent view of the lake. For the life of me, I couldn’t understand why I could not find the Splendido site.
As it happens, I was looking in the wrong direction. I assumed that because the lakeside of the Tagaytay-Nasugbu Highway looked like a sheer cliff that the golf club would be on the opposite side. I was mistaken! I think I drove by there more than a dozen times before I noticed the massive earthwork on the lake side of the road.
Only then did it dawn on me that I’d found what I was seeking.
The developers, the JAKA Group, basically, filled the ravine, moving some 13 million cubic meters of earth to create a suitable site for the Greg Norman designed track. In my years as a golf writer, I’ve never heard of another golf course that’s defied nature in this fashion.
Whoever’s idea this was clearly knew what he was doing. Against the odds, Splendido Taal Golf Club not only survives but currently thrives amid the turmoil and uncertainty that is the local golf industry.
Splendido Taal isn’t overly long at a hair under 7,000 yards, but the think to note is the forward tees aren’t all that much shorter. This means the course will play longer than average for the average golfer.
It does have a few very long holes, though. The longest on the card is No. 5—it’s 464 yards from the tips but plays slightly shorter than that since the second shot plays downhill. Conversely the 435-yard ninth plays significantly longer that it reads on the card since the hole plays entirely up the hill back to the clubhouse.
The golf course opens with two par 5s. The first is straightforward enough and offers a real birdie opportunity at the start of your round. Be prepared to give that back on two; the tee shot plays over a yawning ravine to the fairway on the other side.
Perhaps, even more harrowing than that is the tee shot on the par-3 eighth hole. It plays a hair over 200 yards back over the same ravine from the member’s tees.
A unique feature of Splendido Taal is that its greens are covered in a turf grass found in only one other golf course in the country. Evergreen is a low growing fairway couch variety with fine, dark green leaves. This variety has been used by Greg Norman and his golf course design teams for some of the best golf courses in Australia. It is a unique couch variety due to its ability to thrive and retain a deep green color in full sun with only moderate water. It produces minimal thatch and seed head which makes it very easy to maintain for the golf club.
Unfortunately for us, it is devilishly difficult to read because of a very irregular grain pattern. But this only adds to the charm of Splendido. It seems to have taken hold here. The greens were quick and rolling very well in spite of the heavy tourist traffic.
Situated where it is, Splendido Taal Golf Club is immensely entertaining to play and offers stunning views of the Taal Volcano and lake, and is routed to make the best use of the scenery. There are a number of forced carries over yawning ravines and strategic carries over parts of the hillside. Norman was a great driver of the golf ball and one of the best ball strikers of his day. His course will ask you to show off these skills.
This is a course that provides plenty of thrills without becoming absurd. It is great fun and one of the best golf courses on the Tagaytay Ridge. Against the odds, Splendido Taal Golf and Country Club has become the complete package for everyone.
The clubhouse is executed in a gorgeous Southwestern Mission style. It is at once homey and elegant. The restaurant offers some of the best food in any golf club in the country. Because of its beauty and serenity combined with its proximity to the Tagaytay Ridge, the course has become a very popular wedding venue.
Splendido Taal Golf Club has done everything in its power to carve out its niche in the local golf industry. It’s been a battle that was hard fought. They’ve had to deal with the share price crash and subsequent depression of the local golf market, it’s distance from Manila and plenty of competition from the superb golf courses elsewhere in the Calabarzon that enjoy closer proximity to the city.
It dodged the proverbial bullet when it escaped the eruption of Taal Volcano earlier in the week with minor ashfall on its fairways, spared by the shifting winds. It continues to operate for the pleasure of us all. Long may the club endure.
Image credits: Mike Besa